


Dumpster bros

by ADyingFlower



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: First Meetings, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Homelessness, Kid Fic, Language of Flowers, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmarks that appear as flowers, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 15:23:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13274283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ADyingFlower/pseuds/ADyingFlower
Summary: In a Lucis where people develop flower-related marks when they meet one of their soulmates for the first time, twelve year old Noctis meets Prompto by diving into a dumpster while escaping from his potential kidnappers. Awkwardness ensues.Or: Prompto can't keep his thoughts from escaping out of his mouth for the life of him, Noctis has a future career in Olympic diving, the empire is an awful place and Noctis is probably going to set it on fire, too many flower meanings to keep track of, and this is one first meeting people will be talking about for years to come.





	Dumpster bros

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ryoko126](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryoko126/gifts).



> Here's my secret santa gift to Ryoko! Sorry it took so long ^_^

**__** __ Prompto jerked awake at the sound the dumpster opening, and he had approximately .2 seconds to realize  _ the dumpster was open _ before someone body slammed him back into the plastic bottom. 

“Ow….” The person above him muttered, and then Prompto had an eyeful of dark hair as the person who just dived into the empty dumpster like it was a race against Titan realized they had landed on something that was decidedly not garbage. “Sorry!” 

They jerked back, still straddling his waist but now they were at least off his rib cage so he could catch his breath. Reaching blindly out to his side, Prompto flicked the on switch to his battery powered lamp and got more than he was asking, _way_ more. 

Because, crouching above him with a bruise on his face and the soulmate mark wrapped around his neck and disappearing beneath the collar of his tousled shirt, was the  _ crown prince of Lucis _ . 

“Your - Your highness -” Prompto yelped as a warm hand was abruptly slapped over his face, and the fellow twelve year old leaned forward to harshly glare at him. 

“Not so loud!” The _crown prince of Lucis holy mother of astrals_ whispered at him, and it was only when Prompto shakily nodded his head did the prince release him. “These guys are chasing me, can you turn off the lamp?” 

Without a word, Prompto flicked the switch off, and they were once again bathed in darkness. Well, for the prince that was. Prompto’s eyes could at least make out the basics of his form and the fact that _the prince was still on top of him_. 

Couldn’t a guy just live in a dumpster in peace? The answer was no, they couldn’t, because life was a giant jerk and out to make Prompto's life as miserable as possible. 

After several moments, he heard the sound of multiple running footsteps in the distance, and then soon afterward cries of “The prince went this way!” 

They distance between the voices and them decreased quickly, and both of them sat in petrified silence inside the dark dumpster as footsteps turned down their alleyway. 

It was an agonizing moment before the person retreated with a yell of “Not here either!”, leaving both of them slumped against the cold plastic before common sense came back to the prince. 

The prince scooted off him quickly, pressing his back against the far side of the dumpster as Prompto sat up slowly, once again turning his lamp back on and illuminating the whole space for the prince to see. 

Which wasn’t much, really. Just his lamp, a blanket for when the nights got cold, a couple of books and puzzles he managed to scamper out of the trash after a garage sale, and his rations. But the prince’s eyes wandered over everything, ocean blue eyes noticing everything and leaving nothing undiscovered. 

After a moment, the prince cleared his throat. “Thanks for saving my butt back there, you’re the best!” 

Prompto averted his eyes back to rations, which were nice and safe to look at and didn’t have the power to destroy everything he’s work for since escaping from Niflheim. “It - It was nothing. Don’t worry about it.” 

At that, the prince frowned, which sent a bolt of panic right up his spine. “It wasn’t nothing, you saved my life!” Prompto still didn’t look at the prince, but he kept talking anyways. “I’m Noctis, by the way, but I guess you already knew that.” 

Prompto did not in fact know that, but he would be damned if he said that. 

…It took him another moment to realize Noctis was waiting for his answer. 

“Oh, right!” Prompto blurted out, fiddling with the sleeves of his jacket. “I’m Prompto.” 

“Nice to meet you, Prompto.” Noctis rolled his name around in his mouth, once again eyeing the dumpster around them. “Real question though - why are you in a dumpster?” 

He laughed. Awkwardly. Painfully. “I live here…?” 

“You live here.” Noctis said it flatly, his face shuttering faster than a window when there was a bee outside. 

“Yep.” 

They sat there for a long moment in silence. 

“You can probably go now?” Prompto reached out to open the plastic lid, but a hand slammed it shut the instant it budge an inch. “Okay, guess not.” 

“Why do you live in a dumpster.” It wasn’t a question. 

Prompto shrugged. “It’s free? And it’s actually pretty warm when it snows outside?” 

A warm hand barely touched the back of his hand before Prompto yanked his hand back, cradling it protectively. 

Nothing good comes from people touching you, even he knew this. 

“Hey, hey, I’m not going to hurt you.” Noctis shushed, and for the first time Prompto realized how messy the other boy’s hair was, which was kinda a weird thought now that he thought about it and - okay the crown prince of one of the world powers was holding his hand this was fine this was cool he totally wasn’t freaking out and yep Noctis just noticed the freaking bar code like he was a grocery store item on his wrist. 

But Noctis didn’t say anything about it, only watched it with his mouth twisted to the side for a long moment before wrapping both of his hands around Prompto’s cold one. “How long have you been living here?” 

It wasn’t judging, and that was what perhaps pushed him to answer the question. “A couple months now, I think. It wasn’t snowing when I got here, but now it is.” 

“It’s December now,” Noctis commented idly, brushing his thumb gently over his tattoo like he was a Lucian and this meant something good. 

He envied them - a lot. They always had someone for them, no matter what. 

“Not always,” Noctis spoke out of the blue, and he’s been saying this out loud the entire time hasn’t he? 

Noctis nodded with a smile dancing around his lips. Oh, _crud_. 

“I have five soulmates, which is actually a little below average.” Noctis released one hand to pull up his shirt, showing off the giant purple plant on his ribcage, and then pointed to several white and pink flowers neatly wrapped around his ankle. “Gladiolus flowers for Gladio, because he’s a narcissist, and Iggy has cherry blossoms because he basically raised me.” 

It required some awkward maneuvering, but Noctis managed to half pull down his pants to show the single white flower curled delicately on his hip and the pink buds dotting the nape of his neck. “This is Luna, she’s pretty awesome and her flower’s a white lily, and the other one’s my dad’s, they’re called sweet peas.” 

There was a moment of silence, as Noctis hesitated with his hand over his neck, before he swallowed and yanked the collar down to show how the stem dripped down his chest to over his heart in red splatters that looked like blood. “I don’t know who this one is, but I obviously met them before, and my dad said I got it when I was a baby, so the options aren’t big you know, but no one else in the Citadel has my mark on their neck. No one!”

At the end, Noctis was panting and looking pretty close to tears, so Prompto did the first thing he could think of to calm him. 

He hugged him. 

Noctis physically jumped in his spot, but he didn’t hesitate one second to hug him back. 

And that - that meant something to Prompto. 

He didn’t know what a lucian prince could find interesting to talk about to a rejected MT who’s been living on the streets of Insomnia for months and Gralea even longer, but whatever it was, whatever reason there was, his chest felt warm. 

Why…was he crying? 

“Thank you, Prompto.” Noctis leaned his head into his shoulder, and Prompto gently knocked his head into his hair. Was Noctis…crying too? 

He didn’t have time to dwell on it, because the skin of the back of his hand started to burn, but strangely, he didn’t feel any pain.  

Noctis gasped, loudly, and quickly drew back from the hug, holding up his right hand right under the battery powered lamp. For a second, Prompto couldn’t understand why Noctis was watching his hand with such intent eyes, or why his own left hand was burning as well. 

And then he saw it. 

The outline of white petals slowly started to emerge on Noctis’ skin, like painting being done right before his eyes. Lazily, they spun in a circle on the back of Noctis’ hand before fanning out, spreading out all the way from his knuckles to his wrist. 

Noctis watched his own hand with wide, hopeful eyes, before an elated smile broke across his face. And then - his own hand was seized between Noctis’ own and shoved beneath the lamp light, and Prompto could see in full glory the pink petals in the exact same pattern Noctis’ own tattoo was. 

“Well.” Noctis smiled at him, holding Prompto’s hand close to his chest as if the mark would fly away without him there to watch it. “It’s nice to meet you, soulmate. Wanna go play video games at my place?” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Noctis, after the ending: hey dad this is my soulmate prompto, we're gonna go play some video games also he's living with us now i'm adopting him   
> Regis: what
> 
> Gladio - Gladiolus flowers - strength of character, faithfulness, honor  
> Ignis - Cherry blossoms - kind, gentle, growing up  
> Regis - Sweet peas - goodbye  
> Luna - White lily - purity, innocence after death  
> Ardyn - Orange lily - hatred
> 
> Prompto - White rose - innocence, silence, devotion  
> Noctis - Pink rose - trust, happiness, confidence


End file.
